The Boondocks

The Boondocks is an animated series created by Aaron McGruder. It was based upon McGruder's comic strip of the same name. The show premiered on November 6, 2005. The first season ended with 15 episodes on March 19, 2006. The second season started on October 8, 2007. The third and most recent season began on May 2, 2010. It concluded on August 15 of the same year.

Origins

The Boondocks began its life as a comic strip in The Diamondback, the student newspaper at McGruder's alma mater, University of Maryland, College Park. The strip later found its way into The Source magazine. Following these runs, McGruder began simultaneously pitching The Boondocks both as a syndicated comic strip and as an animated television series.[3] The former goal was met first, and The Boondocks debuted in newspapers in April 1999.

In the meantime, development on a Boondocks TV series continued. McGruder and film producer/director Reginald Hudlin created a Boondocks pilot for the Fox Network, but found great difficulty in making the series acceptable for network television. Hudlin left the project after the Fox deal fell through, although McGruder and Sony Television are contractually bound to continue to credit him as an executive producer.[4]

The series has a loose connection with the continuity of the comic strip, though during the final year of the comic strip McGruder made a point to try and synchronize both. He introduced Uncle Ruckus into the strip, and the comic strip version of Riley's hair was braided into Cornrows to match the character's design in the series.

During the series' first season, McGruder put the strip on a six-month hiatus beginning in March 2006. He did not return to the strip the following November, and the strip's syndicate, Universal Press Syndicate, announced that it had been cancelled.[5]

The opening theme song used in the series (slightly remixed for the second season and again for the third season) is performed by hip-hop artist Asheru. Characters Main article: List of The Boondocks characters

Huey Freeman is one of the three main characters; each episode's primary narrator (usually); the voice-of-reason and moral compass of the family and a spokesperson for contemporary Afrocentrism. He is an intelligent, wise-beyond-his-years ten-year-old who is an avid reader and knowledgeable upon various subjects; being heavily influenced by the theories of various social movements and social justice leaders. He is constantly ridiculed and underestimated by his family, who think he's a fool for having goals and values that aim higher than those of the environment from which they came. While Huey promotes various social causes, he is more openly contemptuous of African-American pop culture (in mainstream American media) for glamorizing wasteful extravagance, self-defeating lifestyles and ignorance. Huey rarely smiles, unlike the other characters; although, in the episode "Let's Nab Oprah", he smiles after his duel with Riley. He also smiles when Riley begins to succeed in winning basketball games in the episode "Ballin'".

Riley Freeman is Huey's trouble-making, eight-year-old younger brother. Unlike his brother, Riley is an enthusiastic follower of contemporary African-American pop culture. Though he is otherwise charming, clever, and artistically gifted, Riley maintains loyalty to those such causes; even in the face of their self-destructive consequences. The bulk of the series' episodes focus on Riley's misadventures (most of which are fueled by his love of gangsta rap, and desire to emulate other people he admires); or, his various outlandish schemes, which his grandfather often endorses and assists in. Despite his wild nature and attempts to appear tougher than he actually is, Riley occasionally shows a softer, innocent side.

Robert Freeman, a.k.a. "Granddad," (and, sometimes referred to as Lando Freeman) is the grandfather and legal guardian of Huey and Riley. While he loves his two grandsons, he sometimes explodes in tirades of angry frustration over the constant schemes, misadventures, and wise-cracking observations they've brought to his life. Robert himself is no stranger to this however: for instance, his eager, misguided dating pursuits invariably attract bizarre or dangerous women. According to the season three episode "It's a Black President, Huey Freeman", "Nobody knows exactly how old Robert Freeman is -- not even Robert Freeman himself; but, his age is estimated somewhere between 80 and 120 years old." A big believer in the values of a long-gone generation of African-Americans, Robert Freeman often threatens to impose "discipline" on his grandsons through Three Stooges-style corporal punishment. He is so skilled at it, that he is able to wield his belt (which he uses for spankings) with the speed and stealth of a nunchuk-toting ninja. Episodes Main article: List of The Boondocks episodes

Both the comic strip and the cartoon named after it were influenced by McGruder's love of anime and manga.[6] He cites Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo as sources of inspiration for fight scenes. The opening sequence of season 1 is also remarkably similar to that of Samurai Champloo. Some of the humor is because of the characters' anime style movements.[7] The second season features segments animated by Japanese animation studio Madhouse.[8] As a result, the second season of the series has more detailed animation as well as minor updates for most of the character designs. Season 3 began airing on May 2, 2010 on Adult Swim and its season finale aired on August 15, 2010. Reception

On January 2006, The Boondocks was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 37th NAACP Image Awards, alongside The Bernie Mac Show, winner Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, and Half & Half. For the episode "Return of the King," the show won a Peabody Award in 2006. As of July 8, 2010, The Boondocks had a 72% rating on MetaCritic, based on 21 reviews.[9]

Critic Jeffrey M. Anderson of the San Francisco Examiner said, "Each episode is beautifully crafted, with an eye on lush, shadowy visuals and a pulsing, jazz-like rhythm... the show is almost consistently funny, consistently brilliant, and, best of all, compulsively watchable."[10] It was named the 94th best animated series by IGN, who describe it as a sharp satirical look at American society.[11] Controversy

McGruder has defended the show's heavy use of the word "nigga" by arguing that the large-scale usage of the word provides the show with a level of realism, due to the word being commonly used in the everyday conversations of many African Americans.[12]

In 2006, Reverend Al Sharpton protested Martin Luther King, Jr.'s use of the word "nigga" in the episode "Return of the King". Sharpton felt it defamed the name of King, and sought an apology from the series producers. The controversy was later referred to in the cartoon strip five times and in the TV episode "The Block is Hot" in the form of a morning radio announcement.

According to an article in The Washington Post, references to Rosa Parks were removed from one of the series' completed episodes within a week of her death.[13] In the second episode, "The Trial of R. Kelly", Parks was originally outside the courtroom protesting Kelly when she was hit with a large piece of fried chicken. The scene appears as a deleted scene in the season one DVD set. She is nonetheless seen, unidentified, at the end of the episode being enthusiastically embraced by the woman who had assaulted her with the fried chicken.

During The Boondocks' second season, two episodes were banned from airing without any official word from the network.[14][15] Originally slated to air on November 16 and December 17,[15] "The Hunger Strike" and "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show" were both heavily critical of BET. An exclusive clip of "The Hunger Strike" was given to HipHopDX.com in late January 2008, before both episodes were included in full on the Season 2 DVD release that summer. An anonymous source close to the show told HipHopDX.com that they heard BET had been pressuring Sony (the studio behind The Boondocks) to ban the episodes and threatened legal action.[15] However, Cartoon Network publicly stated that "...neither Turner nor Adult Swim were contacted by BET, Ms. Lee or Mr. Hudlin."[16] The Season 3 episode "Kentucky Fried Flu" underwent censorship by way of name change (to Fried Chicken Flu) not long before its airdate.

Time magazine named The Boondocks as fifth out of 10 of the Most Controversial Cartoons of All Time.[17]

Network

The Boondocks airs on Adult Swim in the United States, Teletoon in Canada, Season 2 has aired on The Comedy Channel (pay tv network) in Australia. Sony Entertainment Television broadcasts the show in Africa on DSTV. It has also been aired on TV3 and TV6 in Sweden, on Comedy Central (part of SkyTV) in New Zealand and on 3+ in Denmark and in Russia The Boondocks is aired on channel 2×2 under the name of Гетто (Ghetto in English).[18]

It also airs on Latin American Animax. DVD

Seasons 1 and 2 have been released on DVD uncensored. Season 1 was also released for PSP. References

1. ^ "The Boondocks archive". GoComics.com. 2007-10-18. http://www.gocomics.com/boondocks/2007/10/18. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 2. ^ ""The Radical", The New Yorker". http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/04/19/040419fa_fact2?currentPage=2. Retrieved 2010-09-07. 3. ^ Hutchens, Bill. "Aaron McGruder interview: Complete transcript". The News Tribune, 6 November 2005. (archived page) 4. ^ McGruder, Aaron. Interview. The A. V. Club. 2005-11-3.  5. ^ "Return of 'Boondocks' comic strip delayed". CNN. September 25, 2006. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/books/09/25/boondocks.comics.ap/index.html. 6. ^ McGruder, Aaron. Interview with Bill Hutchens. thenewstribune.com. 2005-11-06. Archived from the original on 2007-03-01. 7. ^ "Aaron McGruder - The Boondocks Interview". Troy Rogers. UnderGroundOnline. http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=17924. Retrieved 2007-10-14. 8. ^ "Madhouse in the Mix for Boondocks Season 2". Anime News Network. 2006-07-14. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-07-14/madhouse-in-the-mix-for-boondocks-season-2. Retrieved 2006-07-20. 9. ^ "The Boondocks". MetaCritic. http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/boondocks?q=the%20boondocks. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 10. ^ "Combustible Celluloid film review of The Boondocks: The Complete First Season (2005)". Combustiblecelluloid.com. 2006-07-09. http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/digitalwatch/boondocks.shtml. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 11. ^ "94, The Boondocks". IGN. 2009-01-23. http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/94.html. Retrieved 2009-01-23. 12. ^ "Aaron McGruder defends use of N-word; L. A. community group to launch protest today". EURweb.com. 2005-11-07.  13. ^ Tucker, Neely (2005-10-26). "Like It or Not, 'Boondocks' Will Finally Hit the Airwaves". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/25/AR2005102501847.html. Retrieved 2005-10-28. 14. ^ "'Boondocks' to BET: !*%#!". LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/04/entertainment/et-boondocks4. Retrieved 2010-08-24. 15. ^ a b c Hale, Andreas (2008-01-23). "DX Exclusive: Boondocks Vs BET! | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales". HipHopDX. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6275. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 16. ^ http://adage.com/abstract.php?article_id=124786(subscription required) 17. ^ "Top 10 Controversial Cartoons". Time. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1984966,00.html. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 18. ^ "Телеканал 2х2". 2x2tv.ru. http://www.2x2tv.ru/serial/boondocks. Retrieved 2010-08-02.

External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Boondocks (TV series)

* Official website * Official website at Adult Swim.com * The Boondocks at the Internet Movie Database * The Boondocks at TV.com

v • d • e The Boondocks Creator Aaron McGruder Media Comic strip · TV series (Episode list) · Hip-Hop Docktrine: The Official Boondocks Mixtape · The Saga Continues · The Final Chapter Series Directors Seung Eun Kim · Anthony Bell · Kalvin Lee · Joe Horne · Sean Song Characters Huey Freeman · Riley Freeman · Robert Freeman Dubois Family · Michael Caesar · Uncle Ruckus · Ed Wuncler, Sr. · Ed Wuncler III and Gin Rummy · A Pimp Named Slickback · Colonel H. Stinkmeaner Quotations TV Series · Comic Strip Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boondocks_(TV_series)" Categories: 2005 American television series debuts | 2000s American animated television series | 2010s American animated television series | Adult Swim original programs | American animated television series | American television sitcoms | Anime-influenced animation | Animated sitcoms | Black sitcoms | English-language television series | Peabody Award winners | Satirical television programmes | Television programs based on comic strips | Television series by Sony Pictures Television